Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1)

by Bryce O'Connor

  The concept pressed at his chest a little every time he considered it.

  Eventually, of course, they always had to return to training, and in that the two of them were even more fervent than their chatting. Again and again Aria came after him, Hippolyta flashing and screaming, and again and again Rei dipped and dodged and smashed aside the advances with Shido’s claws and steel plating. He always lost in the end, but never without giving a good showing of himself. Occasionally he even left Aria winded, and after some score of lost battles they both had opportunity to celebrate.

  “Oh!” Aria exclaimed quietly as her NOED lit up where she sat across from him, both having taken to the floor to recover from their most recent exchange. “Endurance ranked up!”

  “Cognition for me!” Rei told her just as enthusiastically, watching the script scroll across his vision telling him he’d hit D0.

  As though forgetting her own excitement, Aria actually squealed at this news. “Rei! That’s great! Your improvement rate is incredible! I’d trade you half my stats for whatever your Growth spec must be.”

  Rei laughed nervously, watching her scroll through what had to have been a Specification Request as she reviewed her new numbers.

  He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t told Aria the secret behind Shido’s upgrades. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. He did. Implicitly so, even—to a point that it alarmed him sometimes given they’d only really known each other a month. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her, either. Again, he did.

  But…

  For some reason, the idea of giving Aria access to Shido’s spec felt different than when he’d granted Catcher permissions, or even Viv. It simply didn’t seem like something he should “just do”, something he could just spill out when the opportunity presented itself. He was aware—intimately so, in fact—that there was no logic to this feeling, and had more than once tried to convince himself that sooner was probably better if he didn’t want her getting to the point of asking him awkward questions down the line.

  But, every time, he realized that if Aria was going to ask him those questions, she would have done so already.

  This very fact, actually, was one of so many reasons why revealing Shido’s specs to her felt… complicated. Even Catcher had pressed a little, had admitted curiosity in Shido’s extraordinary rate of growth. As for Viv, had she not known from the start Rei thought he could say with confidence that his best friend would have been the pushiest of them all, demanding to know the secret even if she had to threaten him at the end of Gemela’s blades. That was simply her personality.

  But with Aria… With Aria, it wasn’t that she appeared not to care…

  It was just that Rei felt like it had always been him, and him alone, she’d been curious about from the start.

  Yes, it had been Shido’s rapid improvement that had driven her to reach out to him, to join their merry little band, but it hadn’t been the Device that had caught her eye. She’d said it herself, when they’d first talked, when she’d admitted the fact that she had had fun in their fight at Commencement. It was after their match that she’d started keeping tabs on his CAD-Rank, after their match that she’d found herself watching him carefully. They’d been sparring partners for a month now, and she’d had ample opportunity to grow bored of him, to trade him for a stronger pairing. Logan Grant himself had offered, right in front of Rei.

  But she never had.

  There was a small, pessimistic side of Rei that told him she could just be waiting. Aria was smart—every cadet at Galens was smart—and it was possible that she’d just deduced that a little patience would pay off in dividends if Rei and Shido continued to grow at the rate they were. It was possible she was just getting in on the ground floor, possible she’d conned him and Viv and Catcher from the start.

  Pessimism, however, never held up long to the facts.

  It was late evening. Only a few minutes until their hour and a half was up, in fact, Rei realized as he briefly pulled up his frame to check the time. Viv and Catcher would undoubtedly have claimed a field at East Center, as they had every afternoon for 6 weeks straight now, and Aria could have gone with them without issue, without going out of her way. They were both strong opponents, in their own right, and while they might not have been able to read and challenge her in the same way Rei did, they could certainly have provided enough of a trial to make up for the mere 2 nights without his presence.

  And yet, despite that, here Aria was, having very obviously leapt through at least one substantial hoop only to break up her evening, limit her training time, and go through whatever other hassles she’d undoubtedly had to manage in order to be allowed the designation of “training partner” to a brigged cadet…

  “What? Am I sweating that much?”

  Rei blinked at Aria’s question, then realized with a wash of embarrassment that he had been staring at her for some time now as he’d thought. She’d set Hippolyta’s spear down to wipe at her forehead, grimacing when the back of her hand came back shiny and wet.

  “N-no,” Rei said with a quick shake of his head. “It’s not that…” He considered his words, finding himself unable to look away from her as he did. Her hair was falling out of her bun, strands sticking to her cheeks and ears and face. Her Endurance was more than impressive—especially with this new upgrade—so she was breathing lightly, but all the same she was hunched over from the exhaustion that followed 90 minutes straight of intense combat. Her red-and-grey suit was damp, and riding up her legs and chest, and Rei thought her left arm might have been trembling a little from bearing her shield for so long. In short, she was a mess.

  She was also beautiful.

  “I’m just feeling lucky,” Rei decided was the safest way to express himself, offering her as bright a smile as he could.

  When she returned it, the pressing in his chest came back.

  “You should! You’re training into Speed and Cognition, right? If you keep developing that way, you’re gonna be a terror of the field, Duels and squad-formats both!”

  Rei chuckled and shook his head. “Not what I meant, dummy.”

  Aria looked confused. “Oh? Is getting brigged that much fun?”

  “Getting brigged is no fun at all,” Rei snorted. “My cell is a single shade of grey, I can’t talk to anyone about anything but school, and in the one hour I spent locked up before training I got so bored I started actually enjoying working on Markus’ paper on evolutionary deviation.”

  Aria gave a dramatic shiver. “Remind me never to get myself tossed in here, then. It sounds awful.”

  “It is,” Rei chuckled. “But that’s not why I’m feeling lucky.” He eyed her a moment longer. “Can I ask you how you got Reese’s permission, now?”

  Once again, Aria’s face fell a little. Rei had expected her to look hesitant, maybe even a little annoyed that he was pressing the issue.

  Instead, though… Aria looked scared.

  Rei was dumbfounded, and started backpedaling immediately. “It’s okay if you don’t want to! I’ve just felt like Reese hasn’t been your biggest fan either. Which is probably my fault, too. So I was surprised, is all. But you don’t—”

  “I didn’t get his permission.”

  Aria’s quiet answer cut off his rambling, leaving Rei with his mouth open as he blinked at her. She wasn’t looking at him, eyes on the white field between them, and had pulled Hippolyta’s spear across her lap to thumb at the Device’s haft nervously.

  “You… didn’t?” Rei finally asked, his confusion overpowering his concern. “But… Then how are you here?”

  Aria held her answer for a moment, biting her bottom lip as though debating saying anything at all.

  After a little bit, though, she finally lifted her gaze to him.

  “If I told you a secret, could you keep it?”

  Rei frowned. This was hardly a question he’d anticipated.

  Still, the answer was simple enough.

 
“Yes.”

  There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He trusted Aria. He trusted her as much as he trusted anyone, Viv and Catcher included. His hesitation to reveal to her his own secret had nothing to do with faith, after all. If this was a chance to make sure she could trust him just as much, Rei would take it without pause.

  What was more… He was certainly curious as to what sort of revelation could drive Aria to swear him to secrecy.

  She nodded and managed a little bit of a smile, like she hadn’t really expected any other answer. “Not even a pause. Could have guessed…” She took a breath, and seemed to be steeling herself. “I told you I never actually wanted to come to Galens, right? I’m glad I did!” she added quickly. “Really glad. Honest. But… It wasn’t my dream, per se.”

  “Your mom’s?” Rei asked, suspecting where the conversation was headed. Aria had never been keen about talking about her family. Though they’d questioned her a little bit—and by “they” Rei meant “Catcher”—she’d never really opened up more than she had that day in the mess hall, the afternoon after their first training session together.

  Still, her reluctance to talk about the Laurents—particularly her parents—spoke plenty as to her feelings.

  “My father’s actually,” Aria answered. “At least I think so. Not that he’d ever say as much, but between the two of them he’s only the navigator. Mother is the engine, the one who gets things done.”

  “And they wanted you to come to Galens?”

  She nodded. “We kind of have a history with the school. My father—Carmen—is a graduate of the Institute. His mother was before him, and my brother and sister are, too. It’s… I guess you could call it ‘tradition’? And one I honestly wanted nothing to do with.”

  “Can’t blame you… I’d want to get away as well, I imagine…”

  “Exactly. I had my eye on some schools in the inner systems. Even one of the top academies on Earth. It’s not like I couldn’t have made it in, either, but Mother wouldn’t hear of it.”

  “Because of ‘tradition’?” Rei asked, finding himself getting irritated.

  “Well… Yes… But for other reasons, too…” Aria took a breath, and seemed to steel herself. “The most important of those being that Rama Guest is my uncle.”

  Rei, following this, could only gape.

  It clicked, then, of course. He recalled, suddenly, that he had once been surprised that someone of Aria’s caliber was at Galens. Even as one of the top schools of the Astra planets, the Institute didn’t carry the weight of the academies in the Sol System, like the Military College on Venus, or Annapolis on Earth. It made sense, too, how Aria had bypassed Reese’s permission, because if he was honest with himself Rei knew full-well that the major wouldn’t have let anyone—even the favorite of the first years—pry such a consent from his cold, dead hands.

  And it certainly made sense why Aria would want to keep that kind of knowledge under lock and key.

  “Whoa…” Rei finally managed to get out, and he couldn’t help but look around them to make sure no one was nearby to overhear. They were the final two in the training chamber—the older cadets having been escorted away steadily over the last hour—and only Warrant Officer Jetson was left to supervise them from his wall some 20 yards away.

  Looking back at Aria, Rei still dropped his voice. “Are you serious? The commanding officer is your uncle?!”

  “Yeah,” Aria nodded, looking a little forlorn. “Don’t get me wrong. He doesn’t play favorite, or anything… Not really, at least. It’s just… helpful to have him around, I guess you could say.”

  “Like when you need to go over your dickwad instructor’s head about something?” Rei suggested.

  Aria managed a little bit of a grin at that. “Exactly. And when you need to figure out when your brigged partner’s allotted training times are. Uncle Ra—the colonel—” she corrected herself quickly “—was my father’s roommate when they were at school. All three years. After that they both served on the front lines. Not frequently together, but always in touch.” She shrugged. “I didn’t even realize he wasn’t my actual uncle until Kalus told me when I was, like, eight or nine.”

  “Your bother?” Rei asked, more to give himself time to process than anything.

  She nodded.

  Rei sat quiet a moment, thinking.

  “I’m assuming you haven’t told anyone else?” he asked eventually.

  “Not a soul. Maddie knows, obviously, and I’m sure some of the higher officers have to be aware, but like I said: he doesn’t really play favorites.”

  “Who’s Maddie?”

  “His chief assistant. Maddison Kent. She’s really nice. My favorite person on campus.” She managed a real smile at Rei, this time. “Don’t worry. You’re a close second.”

  Rei felt his ears grow hot, and was happy that his growing hair now covered them.

  “Still… That’s a big deal, Aria. If people found out—if the other cadets found out—a few people might call foul. Even for little stuff like this.” He tapped the field between them pointedly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy you’re here—really happy—but you’ve got to be careful…”

  Immediately Aria’s face darkened.

  “You don’t think I am careful?” she demanded. “I just said you’re the only person I’ve told. I know what people might think. It’s one of the reasons I’m so pissed at my mother in the first place!”

  “I’m not trying to call you out, I’m just—”

  “No. Stop. I know.” Aria looked suddenly regretful. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.” She sighed. “I am careful. I really am. It was easy, over the summer. We each had our own suite to stay in so no one missed me when I would go visit. I never had reason to ask for anything, either, so there was nothing for me to worry about. Now, though…”

  “You had the colonel give you permission to train with me,” Rei finished for her, feeling suddenly guilty.

  Aria shrugged. “That and a couple other favors here and there. Nothing major. Nothing related to school or training or anything. Just… satisfying curiosities, I guess?” She was eyeing him as she spoke, and Rei took the hint.

  Him, he understood. She’d asked her uncle about him.

  With a chill Rei couldn’t help but wonder if the reason Aria had never asked him outright about Shido was because no one posed a question to which they already had the answer to…

  “Ward. Laurent. It’s 2200.”

  Together Rei and Aria looked around. Jetson was pushing himself off the wall to approach them, his face set into the impassive expression of a good soldier.

  They were out of time.

  “Recall,” Rei muttered, and Shido vanished into its bands in a whirl of metal and blue vysetrium as Hippolyta’s did the same around Aria’s wrist. He got up first, offering her his hand to help her up, which she accepted gratefully.

  Once she was on her feet, though, he didn’t let go.

  “Listen,” he said quickly, meeting the brilliant green of her eyes again. God she was pretty, and looking at her made it hard for him to concentrate as he tried to be as concise as possible “Thank you… For telling me. For trusting me.”

  Aria’s cheeks had gone a little pink, glancing down at their hands briefly, but she smiled. “You’re my second favorite person on campus,” she joked under her breath. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  To Rei, though, it was all anything but a joke.

  “Aria…” Rei hesitated, practically feeling the warrant officer approaching behind him. “Do you know?”

  He took her in as he asked the question, studying her expression, her eyes, her mouth, her cheeks. He took her in, seeking any indication of the truth, even if he was answered with falsity.

  “Know what?”

  The perplexion, printed against her slight smile, couldn’t have fit more appropriately on the innocent faces of the paintings of angels Rei had seen in texts of long-dead
old religions.

  Still, he had to be sure.

  “About Shido? Do you know?”

  At this clarification, her eyes widened. It was minute, infinitesimal even, but Rei caught it.

  When she answered, it was with an intensity he’d only seen her show off in combat.

  “No. But I’ve got my suspicions…”

  He nodded slowly. She had shared something so important with him, had divulged something that could make her school life hell, maybe even end her time at Galens altogether. He didn’t believe she was lying to him now.

  Which meant it was time he gave her the same gift.

  “I’ll show you,” he said, dropping her hand and lowering his voice to a whisper as Jetson closed in on them. “Not tonight. Not while I’m brigged. Thursday, after I’m released.”

  Aria stared at him, clearly not having expected such a promise. Jetson, though, reached them before she could say anything more.

  “Cadet Laurent, Ward’s next training will be at 0600 tomorrow morning. If you intend to be there, I suggest you get back to your dorm before anyone questions why you’re out so late.”

  Aria started, jerked out of her astonishment at the warrant officer’s cool statement.

  “Y-yes, sir!” she stammered, snapping him a salute. After a moment’s hesitation she took two steps backwards, looking at Rei again in lingering surprise.

  She had just turned around, making for a wider set of doors in the south wall of the chamber when Rei called after her.

  “Aria!”